Thought disorder...

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Since about Year 9 or so, I've been having a lot of trouble concentrating and staying in reality. My thoughts are a constant running stream of images and sounds from places I've been to, things I've done, things I've seen on television, or scenes from movies I've watched or books I've read. Thoughts repeat themselves loudly and incessantly in my head, merging into one another and freely changing subjects. Say I had to write a written response to something; my mind would be completely paralyzed and bombarded with images and sound (say, the theme tune to Curb Your Enthusiasm, smattered with images of the title screen and Larry David walking down the street for some reason, repeatedly and in no particular order, mind you).

I'd be unable to think about anything else until the subject inexplicably changes, which means I'm then stuck with that until it merges with something else and so on. And so on and so on...

Sometimes my mind would work in circles, hopping back and forth between a small handful of subjects. The effect of the distracting thought is so powerful that I literally can't focus back on the subject at hand. It's so damn loud and all-consuming that very little else can get through my thick skull. I view my task at hand as being more important than whatever it is that's going on in my head, but my ability to think and reason is impaired by it, as well as my ability to follow instructions (both verbal and written). Watching television, movies and reading books are extremely difficult and frustrating. I hear or read the words, but a lot of the time their combined meaning doesn't fully sink in and I forget what was said or described. This forces me to read back over what I've read, rewind the DVD (or activate subtitles, usually both) or ask if someone could repeat what they have said, usually more than once. You'd pick up bits and pieces but miss others and lose the overall message. It's like there is so much background noise that you can't hear anything else over it, only in my case it's a thousand times more irritating and crippling.

It varies in severity from time to time, but usually there remains a constant level of internal distraction at all times. It's a completely involuntary process that has almost ruined my life and education. I feel like a zombie, mouth agape, shuffling along with a far-off look in my eyes and knowing that everybody else can see that. I'm trapped in a world of my own and it's driving me absolutely bat**** insane.

I haven't been officially diagnosed anywhere on the spectrum just yet, but my family and I suspect that I may have some type of developmental disorder. Any comments or suggestions on this problem would be great.

Note: This post took me about an hour and a half all up to write and edit, so judge for yourself on how that illustrates my problem.

That was a wonderful post, it describes very clearly what you're experiencing.

I do not experience 'streams' of images and sounds, but I do experience something quite similar, especially regarding the reading and DVD watching. Normally when I read fictions I don't have this problem, but when I am forced to read very very quickly, I miss words and the meaning doesn't sink in. This is especially problematic during tests and examinations, I know the answer, but somehow I just skipped over certain diagrams or misread words, like I read the word 'observation' as 'explanation', I knew the answer but lost all my marks just because of that.

My mind doesn't work in circles, more like forward and rewind, sometimes I retrace my thoughts, then go forth again. Images and sounds pop up in my mind pretty often, but it does stop and allow me to concentrate.

I really hope I can give you a solution to your problem, but I am having trouble with the same problem which seems to be much less severe than yours. When I recount this problem to my parents they told me to discipline my mind.

However when I use some physical way to remind myself that I need to concentrate, I can focus better. This might sound stupid, but I tried tying myself to a chair with a belt, worked pretty well... until I got bored and untied myself and start to run back and forth my apartment like crazy.

Also, you could keep a diary of what you see and hear in your mind, keep a record of things, and when those things like... pop up in your mind, you can like... discard them. Not sure if this would work, but that's what my parents suggested as well.

I'm sorry if I can't do anything to help, but I'm sure someone can.